Date: August 2nd. Trailer:
… and while it’s been a while since I’ve read this stuff, I would say I am seeing some echoes from The Long Halloween, which is an excellent read.
I’ll also editorialize and say the graphics, while artistically impressive, might be looking a bit dated, technically speaking. But still! Looks fun.
Always nice to see this game get some exposure outside of this site, with its global rank of 918,640.
The preview is positive, although I must politely disagree with HardcoreGamer's memory of The Curse of Monkey Island as a "3D game." They also note that we still don't know for sure how many episodes Duke Grabowski will consist of:
The game is poised to be episodic, with the potential for three to five episodes. Why is there a range of chapters? Well, the team obviously would love to bring Duke’s tale to completion, but they simply do not know for certain how much interest there will be in the game post-launch. Right now Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler Episode 1 is prepping for launch this fall, and Episode 2 should follow shortly thereafter. Beyond that, though, Duke’s fate is in the hands of players. If a fanbase appears around the series then we’ll be sure to see how many more episodes appear down the line.
Source: HardcoreGamer
Playing catch-up in the aftermath of the Iron Phoenix madness...Aric Wilmunder made a few other uploads a few days ago. The new design docs are:
- Rebel AssaultIt looks like he also meant to make Shadows of the Empire available, but that one doesn't appear to be selectable yet. Anyway, find the above and all the rest on Aric's site, as always.
Source: Aric's World
It's a terrific listen courtesy of the Dev Game Club podcast. Day of the Tentacle is the primary subject, but a broader discussion about adventure games emerges.
What makes the interview particularly worthwhile is that the hosts are Brett Douville and Tim Longo, who worked at LucasArts around the turn of the century, when a developer's assignment was pretty much guaranteed to be a Star Wars title. It's interesting to hear the different perspectives from the four alumni who were involved in different eras and concentrations of the studio. More crucially, Jake gets namechecked.
Source: Dev Game Club
Here at Mojo, we’ve always been particularly interested in the near-misses, the might-have-beens, the ones that didn’t make it. After all, we cheekily referred to all the released LucasArts adventure games as “Secret History,” so you can imagine how piqued the cancelled games must get us. And the loss of Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix, the would-be follow-up to the seminal Fate of Atlantis, probably registers second only to Sam & Max 2 on the Gnashing-Of-Teeth-O-Meter.
The game isn’t completely unknown, thanks to a comic adaptation, a few stray details and a much-circulated Anson Jew animation of Hitler’s face blowing up. But what this doomed title always lacked in my eyes was a definitive chronicle. And if Mojo wasn't going to do it, who the heck would?
Thus I reached out to all members of the team who were willing to share their memories (oh, and design documents) of the game, from its conception to its collapse. I do believe you’ll find the big honking article I pieced together from the results of minor interest.
Huge thanks go to Aric Wilmunder, who unearthed the materials that made this article possible and offered to time their release with our publication. Remi, as always, bailed me out with the header image. Enjoy!
That and more is revealed as part of the latest update on the game's progress from Bill. Sound like they're wrapping up on the first episode.
I have confused feelings about this, since I was rather hoping Pedro would be invited back to do the new music, in keeping with tradition. But who the hell can complain about Jared doing the soundtrack to anything? Sounds like some of Pedro's music from Ghost Pirates - which Duke Grabowski is technically a spinoff of - will be reprised to complement Jared's original work.
Source: Kickstarter
Reboot Develop being a game developer conference in Europe. Tim seems to have done an interview on stage for about forty-five minutes, and we noticed the resultant Youtube video a record six days after it was published. Best not to get used to such breathless velocity from us.
Anyway, here's Tim, recorded in rather dubious audio quality. But who the hell am I to judge?
Source: Youtube
Day of the Tentacle Remastered is now available on Linux, thanks to the porting efforts of J Bush Productions. It's now live on Steam and the Humble Store.
He's said he'd keep them coming, and he's delivered. Check out Aric's site to find the list of downloadable LucasArts design docs updated with:
- LabyrinthSo nevermind your previous Fourth of July weekend plans; it's SCUMM history you need to be honoring.
Source: Aric's World
